


Down to This

by AngelQueen



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: 4x10 Atonement, Angst, Character Study, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2749580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelQueen/pseuds/AngelQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now is not the time for lies.</p><p><b>SPOILERS</b> for 4x10 <i>Atonement</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down to This

**Author's Note:**

> Like many other fans, I was shocked and heartbroken with the death of Daniel. Though he sinned as much as many other characters on the show, I also found him to be one of the most tragic. He was warped by a combination of his toxic relationship with his parents, Emily's need for vengeance, and his own shortcomings. 
> 
> Still, for all that, I don't view his death as a mistake. The character really has gone as far as it can possibly go, having flip-flopped in every possible direction. By having him sacrifice himself, Daniel gains at least some measure of redemption. I don't see him as a run-of-the-mill hero, but as a human being whose life was a result of his both his own faults and those of others.

“Why didn’t you run?” she asks him again and again. He can hear the confusion in her voice.

It’s simple. He’s run his entire life. Whether he wanted to or not, Daniel has always hidden from the consequences of his actions, hidden behind the Grayson name. He’s always taken the easy way out, and never stood up for what’s right. Not for the people he’s hurt, not for David Clarke, not even for himself.

This time, he’d done it. Done it without even really thinking about it. He’d come up on the patio, seen Emily... Amanda crawling on the floor, groaning in pain. He hadn’t bothered to think, just acted. Everything happened so quickly. He’d heard her tell him to get out, to run, but hadn’t really processed it. Then he’d looked up, seen the woman, seen the gun pointed at Emily, and acted again.

The impact of the bullets had hurt, definitely, but now he can hardly feel the pain. Instead, he looks up at Emily’s bruised and bloody face. He sees her glassy eyes, the mixture of pain, fury, and irritation on her pretty features.

 _(Because she_ is _pretty. She’s always been pretty. Even when he hated her with every fiber of his being, Daniel has always known how pretty she is.)_

He keeps watching her when she speaks again, reassuring him that he’s going to be fine. He sees the lie, but feels no anger. This isn’t a lie meant to hurt, he knows, but he still calls her on it, and sees the flash of shame cross her face.

He was right when he told her that he knows her, knows when she lies. Even now, when his blood pours from his chest, he knows. Now is no time for lies, however well-meant.

There are tears in her eyes now, even as she blinks them back. 

_(Would you look at that. He’s brought Emily Thorne… Amanda Clarke… to tears. Real tears.)_

She leans down and whispers, “I want you to know it wasn’t all a lie… not with you.”

He looks at her closely and sees no lie in her eyes. Darkness beckons at the edges of his vision, but he manages to murmur, “I know… I know.”

He’s tired now, so tired, and his eyes slowly close. As they do, though, he is suddenly somewhere else, and he sees Emily… Amanda again, as he once saw her, the lovely, charming woman. He sees her the night he proposed to her, sees the conflict he had been blind to before. He sees all the times she encouraged him to stand on his own, to be his own man, to be better than those he came from. Perhaps that had been her way of trying to spare him from the carnage she was going to unleash on his family.

She’d stopped that when he’d chosen to be part of the lie, to hide as a villain as his parents had before him.

He isn’t foolish enough to think that his sacrifice has made him a hero. He’s done too much for anyone to ever call him that. His sins against her alone are enough to ensure it. Still, maybe he has managed to achieve _some_ kind of redemption.

Perhaps that’s all anyone, much less him, has a right to ask for.


End file.
